Piston-ring



IVI. S. GILI..

PlsTQN RING. ,A APPLICATION FILED MAY 29. 19I9.

1,354,547, Patented o@t.5,192o.

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1,354,547. y Specificationpof Letterl's rse STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MiDiiLE'roN s. Gini., or ssii rRAitciscdcALironNIa.

PisToN-RING.

. tent y Patented Oct., 5, i920.. appiiatioii'iiied May 29, 1919. .senaina 300,615. l

To all whom t may concern.' tion engine, and'P represents a portion of the Be it known that I, MmDLEToN S. GILL, a piston working in said cylinder. The piscitizen of the United States, residingat San ton employed may be of any suitable type rancisco, in the county of San jFrancisco having one or more ring grooves 10 in its 60 Y .and State of California, have invented cersurface that engages the inside walll'of the 1 tain newand useful Improvementsin-lPistoncylinder. A trunk piston havingtwo ring tains to make and use. the same.

Rings;A and do hereby declare the followgrooves is here illustrated, and the saine may n ing to be a full, clear, and exact descripbe connected in any well known or preferred tion of the invention, such-as will enab e manner to the crank shaft of the engine. 65" others skilled in the art to which 'it apper- F or'convenience, it will be assumed that the l y cylinder C is a verticallone and that the ino: My invention relates to piston rings adapt-. Ative forcexgof the explosive or coinpresed-I ed for use as packing means between pistons gasesfisVv exerted 1n the direction of the arrow and cylinders of gas, steam or otherengines', a upon the top or upperv side 11 of the piston 70 1 and relates more particularly to a one-piece P, causing the latter to be moved in the same metal piston ring especially suitable for use direction or downwardly, as in the usual on pistons of internal combustion engines. automobile engine.

During the working ystroke ofsuch pistons, Each of the ring grooves 10 Ahas parallel the usual piston ring has a tendency to be upper and lower side walls, U and L, respec- 75 drawn away from the lower side of the ring tively, disposed in planes perpendicular to groove in the piston, thereby breaking the the axis of the piston, 'and a circular bottom seal between the piston ring and the piston. wal1,the groove opening outwardly or facing l The object of my invention is, therefore, to the inside wall of the cylinder, as is usual.

provide a piston ring of such construction A piston ring R ts snugly into each 80 i that it will be held 'against the lower, side'of groove, the ring groove 10 being slightly the ring groove during the working stroke of wider than the ring that it is designed to the piston and thereby maintain an efficient receive so the ring may have some freedom .l 'seal between thepiston ring and piston. of movement. Each piston ring R is made Another object'of the invention is toA proof a single piece of suitable resilient metal, 85 vide a piston'ring that will prevent leakage the ring being split or divided ltransversely past the piston ring and yet exert a minimum.A as at S, providing'ends 4or tongues l2 and 13 of friction against the cylinder wall-,the piswhich have portions 15 and 16 that overlap .ton ring being so constructed that tli'edifor intert to form, in effect, a continuous ferential pressure will hold it in sealing p0 ring when the same is sprung into place 90 sition. in the groove in the piston. Other forms'of The above and other objects and the novel overlapping or abutting ends may` of course,

features ,of my invention will be apparent be adopted without departing from the spirit l from the following description Vand the a`c .nf my invention. When the ring is in place companying drawing, which forms apart of in the groove and in :the cylinder, its, in- 96'-v this application, andv in whichy herent resiliency tends t'e'xpand it slightly Figure l is a View partly'in section and and hold itin closegas-sealing contact with partly in elevation v/illustrating a portion of the inner surface of the cylinder wall. The

a Cylinder and a POI''IOQ 0f a PISOn 'therein overlapping parts at thesplit S permit such equipped with piston rings embodying my expansion of the ring andat the saine time 100 invention. maintain the seal at thejoint. The ring em- Fig. 2 is a view of one edge and Fig. 8 bodying my invention is provided with a is a partial view of the other edge of a pisgroove 17 in its lower edge which faces the ton ring embodying my invention; flat or plain surface of the lower wall L of Fig. 4 is a view" of a portion ofthe pethe ring groove. The groove 17 is substan- 105 riphery of the piston ring, and Figs. 5 and tially coextensive with the lower edge of the 6 are sectional views of the piston ring taken ring, 'but does not cross the joint or split along the lines 5-5 and 6 6 of Figs. 2 and S, the. ends of said groove 17 terminating ad- 3, respectively; jacent to the overlappin ends 12 and 13 of Referring to the drawing, C represents a the ring. The groove. l is bounded on op- 110 portion of an engine or motor cylinder, such posite sides thereof by co-planer faces 18 and as the cylinder of a gas or internal combus- '19 which bear against the lower side wall A peripheral groove 20 is disposed in exterior or peripheral face of the pistony L of the groove in the piston, the surface 19 being maintained in abutting relation to said wall of the ring groove in the piston and therefore constitutes a sealing surface. the

ring R, the groove 20 terminating near the ends ofthe ring but notlextending across' the split or joint therebetween. The groove 2O 10 is nearer to the' lower edge ofthe ring containing the groove 17 than to the upper edge 21 and is bounded on opposite sides by the surfaces 22 and 23 which engage the interior wall of the cylinder C. Short channels 24 extend from the groove 2O across the surface 22 on the periphery of the ring and terminate at or open into the upper edge face 21, thereby establishing communication between the outer peripheral groove 20 and the space adjacent the upper edge of the ring. Similarly, short channels or ports 25 which are disposed on opposite sides of the split 5, extend from the groove 17' outwardly across the edge surface 18 and open into or terminate at the peripheral surface 23, thereby establishing communication between the groove 17 and the outer periphery of the ring. 'The friction between the piston ring and cylinder wall and the pressure of the compressed gases during the -compression stroke or up-stroke, in Fig. 1, force the ring R aga'instthe lower wall L of the groove 10. However, the usual piston ring, because of its frictional engagement with the cylinder wall, has a tendency to lag behind the piston during the working stroke of the latter and will move away from the lower wall of the ring groove in the piston, thereby breaking the gas and oil seal between the piston ring and the piston.

Piston rings embodying my invention prevent leakage past the joint between-the ring and the piston as Well as past the joint between the ring and the cylinder wall. Piston rings now in use generally prevent leakage of gas and oil past the ring during the compression stroke of the engine but are not efficient in preventing leakage of oil and gas past the. joint between the ring and piston during the power or working stroke, because the proper seal is not at all times maintained between the ring and piston.

It appears that the operation of my improved ring depends upon the fact that the pressure holding the portion of the ring in frictional engagement with the cylinder wall (due to the combined gas pressure and resiliency of the ring) while sufficient to prevent leakage past the ring and the cylinder` wallq is not suthcient to cause the ring to break its seal with the piston. Accordingly, the gas pressure holds the ring against the lower wall of the ring groove in the piston, during both compression and working 65 strokes and thus prevents leakage in either cent to direction past the joint between the ring and piston.

In using the invention ina counteriow engine with a condenser, suction would have the same effect on the ring, that pressure has in a gas engine as just described.

The `surfaces 19 and 23 are the only surfaces of the ring which pressure or suction can act upon and are the surfaces that make the seal. For convenience, l term them livev surfaces.

An improved piston ring embodying the present invention is also disclosed in my application Serial No. 350,356 iledJanuary 9, 1920, and accordingly while I have herein shown and described my invention in detail, it is to be understood that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore 1 do not wish to be limited to the exact details herein disclosed.

What I claim is:

1. A piston ring split transversely to provide opposed separable ends, said ring having a groove extending longitudinally of one of its edge faces and terminating adjacent to said ends, and also having a sealing surface between said groove and the inner side of said ring, and one or more channels extending from said groove to the outer side or periphery of said ring.

2. A piston ring split transversely to provide opposed separable ends, said ring having a-`groove extending longitudinally of an edge face thereof and terminating adjasaid ends, and also having channels on opposite sides of said split and extending from said groove to the outer periphery of said ring.

3. Apiston ring split transversely to provide opposed separable ends, said ring hav- `,ing a groove extending longitudinally of one of its edge faces and'terminating adjacent to said ends, and also having a sealing surface between 'said groove and the 110 inner side of said ring, and channels or pressure relief ports in such edge face on opposite sides of said split and extending from said groove to the outer periphery of said ring.

4. A piston ring having a groove in its outer peripheral face nearer one edge face of the ring than the other and communieating with the space adjacent the remote edge face of the ring, and a groove disposed in and extending longitudinally of the edge face of the ring nearer such outer peripheral groove.

5. A piston ring having a groove in its outer peripheral face nearer one edge of the ring than the other, and channel means in said peripheral face between said groove and the more remote edge, and a groove in the Vedge face nearer such peripheral groove. I

6. A piston ring having a groove in its l1,354,154? A i 'Q outer peripheral face in communication 10. A piston ring of resilient material 30 with the space adjacent one edge face of having a transverse split at one point, a the ring, a groove in the other edge face-of groove in one of its edgeV faces terminating the ring, and a channel in said other edge adjacent to but short of'said split, and a face extending from such last-mentioned passage insaid edge face leading from said groove to the outer peripheral face of the groove to the outer periphery of said ring. 35 ilng. ll. In combination, a piston having a 7. A piston ring having opposed ends ring-receiving groove provided with an imand a groove in one of its edge faces termiperforate side wall, and a piston ring havn ating short of said ends and communicating a groove in one of its edge faces opposed ing with the space adjacent. the outer peto and 'coperating with said imperforate 40 riphery of the ring, and another groove side wall of said ring-receiving groove, and in its peripheral face communicating withl a channeleiitending from said groove in he space adjacent the other edge face of vthe ring to the outer periphery of said ring. the ring. l2. one-piece resilient piston ring split 8. A piston ring having a transverse split transversely providing opposed separable 45 at one point, a groove extending nearly the ends, said ring having a groove in one of length of one of the edge faces of the ring its edge faces terminating adjacent to but v but terminating at a distance from said not'crossing said split, channels on opposplit, and means establishing coinmunica-y site sides of said split and extending from tion between said groove and the outer pesaid groove to the outer periphery of the 50 riphery of said ring.y ring, and another groove in the outer pe- 9. A piston ring having a channel or ripheral face of the ring, said ring having groove in edge face thereof lthat is a passage leading from such outer periphadapted to abut against. a wall of a rin eral groove to the other edge face of said receiving groove of'a piston, and a filnd ring. 55

. passage or passages in said edge lface and In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my between said channel and the outer pesignature. 1 riphery of the ring. MIDDLETON S. QILL. 

